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Please understand that this website is not affiliated with any of the perfume companies written about here in any way, it is only a reference page and repository of information for collectors and those who have enjoyed the classic fragrances of days gone by. One of the goals of this website is to show the present owners of the various perfumes and cologne brands that are featured here how much we miss the discontinued classics and hopefully, if they see that there is enough interest and demand, they will bring back these fragrances! Please leave a comment below (for example: of why you liked the fragrance, describe the scent, time period or age you wore it, who gave it to you or what occasion, any specific memories, what it reminded you of, maybe a relative wore it, or you remembered seeing the bottle on their vanity table), who knows, perhaps someone from the company brand might see it.

Vintage Perfumes For Sale

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Femme by Rochas c1943

After the Second World War, a new perfume was on the horizon. At the request of Marcel Rochas, Edmond Roudnitska created the perfume Femme. The perfume was inspired by Rochas's young wife. Legend has it that he gave it to her as his wedding present.

Perfumer Edmond Roudnitska talked about the humble creation of his sumptuous perfume Femme, "Let me tell you, I created Femme in 1943 in Paris during the worst days of the war in a building that had a rubbish dump on one side and paint factory on the other." Roudnitska allegedly found a vat of the chemical methyl ionone in a factory and made use of it in the creation of Femme.

In 1944, Rochas issued a letter inviting select women to purchase his first perfume. It was originally produced in a limited, numbered edition, and the following year it was made available to the public. This scent was highly praised by critics.

When Women's News Service asked why Marcel Rochas would still bring out a new perfume after the immense success of Femme, Howard Zagor, president of Parfums Marcel Rochas in 1967, he gave a surprising reply, "Perfumes have definite personalities. We started with a perfume which was definitely French, cosmopolitan in its appeal. For less sophisticated women and smaller towns, Femme wasn't always right. So we created Madame Rochas, which is still an elegant perfume but has a broader appeal to the average person."

Fragrance Composition:

A 1953 ad describes Femme as "Flowers and fruit superbly wreathed together into one of the most compelling perfumes of our era."

A 1952 advertisement in the Milwaukee Journal describes the perfume:

"One French perfumer offers his well known Femme or La Rose in a pretty box for gift giving. The graceful Lalique designed bottle, labeled only on the stopper, nestles in billows of filmy net in an oval box. This presentation is veiled in black lace - the trademark of this perfume house.

Femme is a blend of more than 200 rare flower essences from all over the world. Predominant is the exquisite jasmine with overtones of lush, tropical blossoms. This is completely feminine and flattering fragrance as its name would imply. La Rose captures the heady fragrance of fresh cut roses with a hint of their pungent leaves and stems."

Rochas Femme was composed of over one hundred ingredients which produce a fruity flowery fragrance.

The Bottles:

It appeared that the shapes of the woman have inspired him for the creation of the bottle of perfume Femme. The bottle of Femme was a curvy amphora shape and was designed by Marc Lalique based on the sketches by Marcel Rochas.

The packaging was trimmed with printed black Chantilly lace designed by Albert Gosset, the lace design hearkens back to the corset that Rochas made for Mae West. Only the luxury edition crystal bottles will be signed with the Lalique signature. Other bottles were made by Pochet et du Courval.

Femme was available in Parfum in five sizes:

1/4 oz (7.3 ml) (Ref # 156) stands 2.75" tall

1/2 oz (13.3 ml) (Ref #154 ) stands 3.25" tall

0.7 oz (23 ml) (Ref #153) stands 3.34" tall.

1 oz (25 ml) (Ref #150) stands 3.75" tall

2 oz (Ref #152) stands 4.5" tall

Some adorable purse bottles (Flacon Sac) were created to hold parfum, including a frosted vial with a gilded cap, and two white opaline glass bottles, one is an oval shape and covered with black lace and the other is round with a round ball cap (measures 1.88" in diameter, also came in clear glass).

Toilet water was available in two sizes and the Eau de Cologne in three sizes. An atomizer for the eau de cologne was introduced in 1955, a period newspaper ad mentions that "Femme is the first perfume to have an atomizer."

1.8 oz Eau de Cologne Splash

stands 3.75" tall

2 oz Eau de Cologne Splash (Ref #2206)

4 oz Eau de Cologne Splash stands 5" tall. (Ref #2204)

5.75" tall

In 1969, Parfum de Toilette was introduced. Sometimes the bottles or boxes are not marked as to size, so I created a handy guide to help you figure out what size your bottle is based on the height measurements.

Fate of the Fragrance:

In 1989 or 1992 (per Osmotheque), Olivier Cresp of Quest International reformulated the perfume with modern ingredients and relaunched and based its composition on his own memories of his own family members who wore the perfume.

Please note that this version is a decidedly ‘earthy’ mossy chypre fragrance, lighter and different than the original version. The bottles are the same Mae West shape and have black caps as on the original bottles.

The 2011 version was reformulated by Jean-Michel Duriez which minimized the oakmoss due to IFRA regulations. Please note that this is a reformulation of the 1989 version and has been repackaged in new bottles with peach colored caps.

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